Pastor's Corner ~ "Advent: Active Waiting"

With the first Sunday of Advent, we begin a new liturgical year. The word “Advent” comes from the Latin word “adventus”, which means “arrival”, “coming”. If we expect someone to arrive, to come – we wait in anticipation. For some reason, as I was preparing myself for Advent, the word “wait” kept popping into my head. Last year during this time of the year, I did a little survey among close friends and family and asked them one question: What are you waiting for right now with great anticipation? To my surprise, I got many responses: I am waiting for my promotion in my job. I am waiting for my chemotherapy to be over. I am waiting for my husband to come home from the military. I am waiting for my children to visit for Christmas. I am waiting for our new baby. I am waiting for my job interview. I am waiting for someone to marry me, to which I responded, “you have a priest already here!, call me if you find someone or someone finds you.” But, two people also said “I’m not waiting for anything.”
What about you? What are you waiting for with great anticipation at this moment of your life? And, where does God fit in this waiting, or is he even part of the picture?
Why wait for God to arrive or to come in to our lives if St. Augustine says that God is closer to us than we are to ourselves? Does God ever leave us? It’s not God who leaves, but it’s us who sometimes leave God and wander around. The season of Advent is not just about waiting for God passively to come again in our lives anew, but it’s also a time to actively find our way back to him so that we can arrive once again to his loving embrace. As the psalmist says, “Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.” So, let our Advent today be a two-way process: In as much as we wait for God, let us also seek ways to arrive to him. And how do we arrive at him? By entering into the life that he invites us. Many of us might say, “well I’m here every Sunday, so I can say that I have arrived already at God-zone.” We don’t have to necessarily leave home in order to be away or to wander around. I know people who feel so far away from their spouse even though they sleep in one bed every night and they see each other every day. And, just like that, one can also go through the routine of Sunday obligation and faith life and still feel so disconnected from God because of the choices that we make and the lifestyle that one chooses to embrace. Let us make this Advent our best Advent possible, by heeding what the collect/opening prayer today said. The opening prayer just beautifully sums up our Advent disposition — let’s hear it again: “Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deed at his coming, so that gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom.” Our disposition for this Advent as what we heard is “to have the resolve to run forth to meet Christ with righteous deed at his coming.” To run, not just to walk. There’s a sense of urgency and earnestness. What are those things that I find myself doing over and over again, like a slave of them, that are not so righteous, thus hindering me to possess the heavenly kingdom? – Fr. Cary